Online teaching provides a valuable lesson

More than 20 primary schools across Gaoling town then followed suit and tuned into the online classroom.

It didn't take long before Huang Zhaohua from Andong Primary School heard of its success.

"I sat in on the online classes myself, and found them a nice complement to what the school offers," Huang says.

She applied them to more than 30 classes of the school in October.

"Although there is now a vast amount of knowledge available online, it takes a lot of time and effort for schools to screen this information," Huang says.

"It is much more difficult to find resources that really fit the psychological conditions and the acceptance level of children in this age group," she adds.

She believes that the online classroom is customized for primary school students and can help protect and stimulate children's curiosity.

"The children can communicate and interact with experts and scholars in various fields without having to leave home, which will encourage them to learn," Huang says.

Moreover, the classroom program also offers faculty training, such as Mandarin, which Huang says is of great benefit to ethnic teachers.

"We have also asked our teachers to listen carefully and take students to do some extended thinking after the (online) class to develop their interests.

"Next, I hope that the course will be more systematic and increase the training of teachers in such areas as teaching etiquette," Huang says, adding that the format of livestreaming class training can achieve full coverage "at our teachers' level as compared to our existing training mechanisms".

To date, more than 20 teachers have joined the program, and classes, including those on calligraphy, painting and astronomy, have been given on a regular basis.

At its peak, more than 10,000 students from rural Guangxi listen to a class simultaneously.

"The teachers are knowledgeable and give lively classes, and they also carry out online interactive communications, which is of great interest to the students," says Wei Deng, headmaster of the Gaoling Central Primary School.

"They can see a wider world outside, and the seeds of exploring the knowledge are planted in their hearts," Wei adds.

Li Jianjun, Party secretary of Du'an, says that he hopes the learning mode can be promoted to benefit more schools in the country's remote mountainous areas and thus help high-quality education development.

So far, positive influences have already shown themselves in the student response.

"It felt magical how a teacher can teach us thousands of kilometers away," Jingwen says about her experience at online classroom.

Ever since Jingwen took the space travel class, she has taken the initiative to read up on related materials.

"I have known where I can find what I'm looking for through the online class," she says.

Moreover, her interest in dancing and music has also been satisfied through the rich classroom arrangement.

"I think my biggest take-away from these lectures is I realized that people need to have their own interests so that they can experience more fun outside of classroom, enjoy learning and life," she says.